Kaspersky Lab employee arrested by Russians on charges of high treason

Ruslan Stoyanov was investigating a senior figure within the Russian FSB, who was allegedly receiving money from foreign organisations to assist in cyber-investigations.

St Basil's cathedral on the Red Square in Moscow

Ruslan Stoyanov, head of cyber-investigations at Kaspersky Lab (title from LinkedIn) has been arrested on suspicion of committing “high treason”. A senior Russian FSB intelligence officer was also arrested under the same charges.

According to Russian news website Kommersant, Stoyanov has been in custody since December 2016.

Kommersant said that Stoyanov was investigating a senior figure within the Russian FSB, who was allegedly receiving money from foreign organisations to assist in cyber-investigations.

Kommersant's sources have claimed that this may affect the relationship of Internet business with the FSB.

A spokesperson for Kaspersky Lab confirmed to SC Media UK that Stoyanov had been arrested but said it had nothing to do with his work at the company.

The spokesperson said: “This case is not related to Kaspersky Lab. Ruslan Stoyanov is under investigation for a period predating his employment at Kaspersky Lab. We do not possess details of the investigation. The work of Kaspersky Lab's Computer Incidents Investigation Team is unaffected by these developments.”

Prior to working at Kaspersky Lab from 2013, Stoyanov managed special technical activities at the Moscow police.

Andrei Soldatov, told Associated Press that this arrest, “destroys a system that has been 20 years in the making, the system of relations between intelligence agencies and companies like Kaspersky,”

Soldatov added: “Intelligence agencies used to ask for Kaspersky's advice, and this is how informal ties were built. This romance is clearly over.”

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